If The King's Speech winning, Tom Hooper beating David Fincher and Gwyneth Paltrow winning didn't provoke a Weinstein backlash, nothing will. SLP was never going to do well at the BAFTAs, I mean it was only nominated for three awards last night. The Academy has fallen in love with it far more than the BAFTAs did and the box office is exceeding expectations. I would argue the momentum is increasing more and more but I think Riva's is increasing even faster.

I really think Anne should win but why is she so breathless during all her awards speeches? Kate Winslet did that too and it was irritating.

OMG, I still don't know how the Paltrow thing is just accepted. Am I just not on the right sites, because Cate was robbed. I mean, effing robbed! Are you kidding me? Not to mention, she had won the BFCA, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA, and then wham out of nowhere Paltrow wins? Where was the outcry?

Okay, I'm calm now. I do kind of hope that if Riva decides to fly out there for the Oscars, that she wins. But honestly, I wouldn't be mad if either Jessica or Jennifer won, even though I feel like SLP was more of an ensemble piece than anything else and even though I really wish Cooper would win.

Agreed with you chickadee. Jennifer does deliver a fine performance, but she's in a film produced by Harvey, and if there is anything Harvey owns (and probably tinkered in the Dark Arts of backdoor Hollywood to get), it's the recipe to winning awards.

I don't think Jen is a complete disaster in Dior, but she's not right for the brand yet. She needs a few more years. Right now, it's obvious she's new to fashion. She should be experimenting and finding her style. Then, if she decides Dior is for her, then do it. (I actually didn't know she was signed to Dior until I started following this topic.)

Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Sliding Doors)
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress (also for Sliding Doors)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

before she got the Oscar. I wouldn't class it as out of nowhere. Out of nowhere would been Meryl winning for One True Thing which was such a filler nom.

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Maybe people don't mean it that way, but I find all this Harvey talk so dismissive of her talent. Put in this years exact same field of actresses and take him out of the equation and I'm not sure you would be getting a different result - Chastain's role, as many critics pointed out, was very thin and purposely lacking in depth (I understand why, since the filmmakers couldn't afford to give much detail on that character - and as a great actress, Jessica did do the best with the little she had to work with) and also overshadowed by the very real ill feelings a lot of people, including some academy members, feel towards Zero Dark Thirty. Emmanuelle Riva is the type of performance the Oscars usually nominate but don't award (although I do think she has a real shot here, becoming the go to this year for people uncomfortable with rewarding a young newcomer like Jennifer), Quvenzhané, as charismatic as she is, is a kid, and I won't talk about Naomi, since I don't even understand why she was nominated.
I just... wonder what outcome people would anticipate without Harvey involved.

Maybe people don't mean it that way, but I find all this Harvey talk so dismissive of her talent. Put in this years exact same field of actresses and take him out of the equation and I'm not sure you would be getting a different result - Chastain's role, as many critics pointed out, was very thin and purposely lacking in depth (I understand why, since the filmmakers couldn't afford to give much detail on that character - and as a great actress, Jessica did do the best with the little she had to work with) and also overshadowed by the very real ill feelings a lot of people, including some academy members, feel towards Zero Dark Thirty. Emmanuelle Riva is the type of performance the Oscars usually nominate but don't award (although I do think she has a real shot here, becoming the go to this year for people uncomfortable with rewarding a young newcomer like Jennifer), Quvenzhané, as charismatic as she is, is a kid, and I won't talk about Naomi, since I don't even understand why she was nominated.
I just... wonder what outcome people would anticipate without Harvey involved.

Oh, I understand all that. But it has been reported for years the lengths that Harvey will go to to get his films awards. Which is why people are extra critical of his films when they get awards, deserving or not.

Actually, I'm not rooting for either Lawrence or Chastain cuz I wasn't that impressed with either film. Both performances had moments of genius, of pure inspiration, but neither were the revelations that the critics have told me constantly that they are. (I haven't seen the other nominees just yet.)

Oh, I understand all that. But it has been reported for years the lengths that Harvey will go to to get his films awards. Which is why people are extra critical of his films when they get awards, deserving or not.

I find it interesting that some people still seem to think that Harvey is the only one in Hollywood who does this. It's ALL of them. Producer Scott Rudin (who is like Harvey's enemy ) is just as ruthless when it comes to him films and awards. The reason we found out about Harvey is cause ex-employees wrote books about it. Even Spielberg participates. Hello Bill Clinton at the Globes to introduce Lincoln.

I want to know why Harvey isn't pushing The Master. After finally having seen it I'm actually disappointed that he hasn't been working "his magic" on the acting noms. All 3 are amazing.

__________________ROBBER -Get down on the ground. Face down. C'mon.CHER -Oh, no. You don't understand, this is an Alaïa.ROBBER -An a-what-a?CHER -It's like a totally important designer.

I find it interesting that some people still seem to think that Harvey is the only one in Hollywood who does this. It's ALL of them. Producer Scott Rudin (who is like Harvey's enemy ) is just as ruthless when it comes to him films and awards. The reason we found out about Harvey is cause ex-employees wrote books about it. Even Spielberg participates. Hello Bill Clinton at the Globes to introduce Lincoln.

I want to know why Harvey isn't pushing The Master. After finally having seen it I'm actually disappointed that he hasn't been working "his magic" on the acting noms. All 3 are amazing.

Ia with all of this, and thank you for mentioning The Master, cause it was going to be part of my point about the myth of Harvey as a magician who can get anything awarded.
Like Label Basher said, every single studio/producer/talent in town campaigns, and yet Harvey (who loves feeding into his image as the most powerful person in town tbh) has all the talk and myth concentrated around him for two reasons: first, being the first one to do it, and second for his real talent, which is in being smart enough to publicly associate himself with stuff that has real potential to win, emphasizing those associations only and cultivating his own myth. You can not make a winner out of a movie people just don't care about - and this is where The Master comes in. Weinstein was all over this movie back in Venice, hyping it to extremes, selling the storyline that it was Phoenix's true comeback and best ever performance. Then, as soon as it opened to less than enthusiastic reactions, Harvey dropped it like a hot potato. Same goes for the french movie he bought this year to be his contender in the foreign Oscar race, which didn't even make the list of nominees. He has failed as many times as he has succeded in getting the actual award (and frankly, I'm not that impressed by someone who can't even get a highly due Scorsese an Oscar), but people never seem to remember that.

Honestly, when it comes to campaigning and "snubs", the only team I'm impressed with is the one that got Crash the win. That was the only time I've ever been shocked speechless by an outcome, and a true coup in getting a poorly reviewed movie that had opened months before the prize.

I find it interesting that some people still seem to think that Harvey is the only one in Hollywood who does this. It's ALL of them. Producer Scott Rudin (who is like Harvey's enemy ) is just as ruthless when it comes to him films and awards. The reason we found out about Harvey is cause ex-employees wrote books about it. Even Spielberg participates. Hello Bill Clinton at the Globes to introduce Lincoln.

No, it's not anything new. I remember reading a book on 'The Sound of Music' and it said Fox was very clever about the awards campaigning, buying out side by side pages and but using only a page and 1/2 and letting the rest of the page be used for article purposes (so industry people would be forced to see the ad), which had never been done before (prior to that, it had only been 1 page buyouts). Grace Kelly's win is also said to come down to clever studio marketing too. It probably goes back even earlier than that as well.

Harvey may get a bad rep for it, because Miramax exist(s)(ed) mainly to turn out awards-friendly art house films (or so all the impressions I've read or heard about it have been) and wherever he's at now, he does the same thing. At least other filmmakers and studios turn out ...filler not meant for awards products...alongside their artsy fartsy pictures.

Honestly, when it comes to campaigning and "snubs", the only team I'm impressed with is the one that got Crash the win. That was the only time I've ever been shocked speechless by an outcome, and a true coup in getting a poorly reviewed movie that had opened months before the prize.

That was pure homophobia. Members have stated that there was no way they would voted for a homosexual love story.

Unlike The Social Network/Kings Speech debate I can't really blame Paul Haggis for this upset. He's a really good film maker. Thankfully Brokeback didn't go home empty handed and won directing, adapted screenplay and score.

__________________ROBBER -Get down on the ground. Face down. C'mon.CHER -Oh, no. You don't understand, this is an Alaïa.ROBBER -An a-what-a?CHER -It's like a totally important designer.

No, it's not anything new. I remember reading a book on 'The Sound of Music' and it said Fox was very clever about the awards campaigning, buying out side by side pages and but using only a page and 1/2 and letting the rest of the page be used for article purposes (so industry people would be forced to see the ad), which had never been done before (prior to that, it had only been 1 page buyouts). Grace Kelly's win is also said to come down to clever studio marketing too. It probably goes back even earlier than that as well.

Yes I have heard about Grace before. Nothing can top Pia Zadora Globe win .

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I remember when Crash and BM came out and were pitted against each other as to which was more 'progressive' cuz one deals with racism and the other homophobia. I saw both shortly after the Oscars that year, and my eyes must have rolled so far back into my head. They are both super-safe in my opinion. (I give the edge to BM only because it lacks the cheesiness that is ending of Crash.)

Although I tend to very contrary. I wasn't very impressed with Saving Private Ryan either. I think Shakespeare in Love gets so much hate for its win cuz it's a comedy (but comedies are soooooo under-appreciated by the Academy). But the Academy has a tendency to nominate and/or award anything World War 2 related just because they think it's deep cuz ...it deals with World War 2. (I personally prefer TTRL to SPR in terms of originality and depth.) (I do take issue with Gwyneth winning though. I think she got that year more due to her It Girl status than actual acting. Cate Blanchett deserved that award.) (That's another issue I have with the Academy. That really love to award the It Girls of the Moment rather than the actual actresses.)

Crash was very interested in being known as an "issue" movie (or, as Glenn Kenny described it in the late Premiere magazine, "a power point presentation disguised as a movie"), but it's not really fair to reduce BBM as something that was merely trying to work that angle.